Behind the Big Screen
by sadistic dreamkiller
Summary: As Sakura watches the audience in the darkness of the theater, she envied them, that they could believe it was for real even for just a few hours.  SasuSaku AU


Lol, frigging first AU fic. And all this time, I thought it would be the ItachixKonan college one, ahaha. Hope this' decent 'nuf. Plot bunny bit me (bit me! the nerve...) when I was reading TheCherryOnTop, so I thought it was fitting to be for the author. Not really my style, but it's fluff galore.

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**Behind the Big Screen**  
Oneshot for Ohwhatsherface

"_Because if you're not there to hold me together, I can't possibly keep myself and my sanity."_

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I pulled the red cap lower in front of my face as I stood outside the theatre entrance of the mall, having chosen that colour to avoid more attention to my pink hair, being pretty much the same hue. The air inside the building was cool and dry, and I was thankful for the change from the humid heat outside. No sunglasses, because I know that wearing them would be too obvious for someone like me, and that it would only backfire and cause more people to stare.

So, clad in ordinary jeans and shirt, with rubber shoes to match and a jacket tied across my waist, I looked up to see if I was going to the right place, holding the single ticket lightly in my hand as I scanned the red letters scrolling high above my head over the opening. It read "AM 08:45 11:15 PM 01:45 04:15 06:45 09:15 … Akatsuki University … Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Kuchiki Rukia, Souma Yuki, Kuruta Curapikt…"

Glancing at my watch, I read 2:21 off its face and allowed myself a crooked smile. The waiting lines that had been formed outside earlier were long gone, and all the people that were left were those who were working at the snack counter and at the ticket booth, where I knew they would certainly recognize me but wouldn't be able to leave their jobs to ask for an autograph. I walked up to the man collecting the tickets and handed him the small, yellow stub, not waiting to watch as he shredded it before disappearing beyond the massive swinging doors.

The sounds from the unseen speakers were loud in the darkness that swallowed me as the doors shut behind me, beating in my ears as I stood still, letting my eyes adjust to the change of lack of enough light before I was able to actually see what was in front of me, or else I might bump into some random guy who just got out of the bathroom._ Gross…_

It actually happened to me before. Twice.

At last I could make out subtle differences in my surroundings after a few more seconds. Following the little bulbs that hovered on the walls just above the floor, I hoped I wouldn't stumble, clumsy thing that I am, as I made my way into the gangways that led to the seats. The sound of a conversation from the invisible speakers were thrumming through the soles of my feet because of the loud volume, and I looked up, remembering when we had been filming that particular scene.

"I really need to fix my timing," I muttered, pulling off the oppressive hat from my head and fixing my hair before putting it back on. The air was even colder in here, and as I stood still at the aisles without bothering to find a seat, I could see most of the audience.

Some were giddy couples, others groups of friends who have nothing to do, or were diehard fanatics. There were guys who appeared to be bored and only had come because their girlfriends forced them to. For the past four movies that I'd done, I had always been doing this, sneaking into a movie house and seeing how the people reacted. It was almost always positive, since all of those movies were hits, and somewhere along the line I found myself wishing for a flop.

No one recognized me most of the time, and I would stay and check on the people further for a few minutes, sometimes nearing the end of the movie, before I would slip out again unnoticed. Almost always they expect me to appear as who I was playing, or during those times when I attended the red carpet, always glamorous and fixed and pretty and _perfect_. I wasn't all that, and being a completely normal human being, I wasn't noticed at all when I dressed as I always do. This time, I decided on waiting until the end of the show, staring up at the gigantic screen as my bigger self spoke.

"Not to be condescending, but your work really sucks."

"As if you've gotten some notice for yours."

_Ugh, that's disgusting, man. _Cliché. Too cliché, and I start wondering if I should be the one who personally sees the scripts instead of having my manager shove crap after crap writing to me. I want to do a movie with actual depth, really, not just some chick flick or some random overused plot thing. All of my work had been like that so far, and was so similar to this one I'm watching right now. It's totally horrifying, I tell you. Maybe yeah, it had been fun for a while, knowing that blockbuster after blockbuster was hitting all time highs, but you'd eventually get tired of it.

Somewhere to the other side of the huge room I could spot a shadow moving. Two, to be exact, as if they had come to the last screening late and continued it on to this one. They left without bothering anybody, and nobody bothered to notice because they were all staring at the screen in front of them, engrossed in the shallow tale of a college romance.

For a moment I raised a pink brow at the back and forth conversation going on in the picture in front of me, hoping that I had done this instead of that, made an adlib here or there, those kind of things. There were always mistakes that I'd see only after the movie came out, and that made me question if I really was cut out to be an actress.

I was in the middle of contemplating doing a documentary for Nat Geo when suddenly I felt a presence behind me, as if I might be blocking the way of a movie-goer to their preferred seat.

"Sorry," I mumbled, looking over my shoulder and preparing to move to a different spot where I could be out of the way and at the same time watch the film in peace.

Instantly, I froze, staring into an incredibly attractive guy's face, ebony hair hanging down from beneath a white hood and framing his alabaster skin as the cloth reached down and partly covered his scintillatingly amused black eyes.

"Sasuke!"

"Shhh…" he said, holding a finger to his cupid-bow lips. He was cute when he did that, like he was a normal person. An extremely good-looking normal person if I may elucidate, but he wasn't. He was my fellow actor, someone I've worked with in all the movies that I have ever done. He had always been the leading guy who my character always ends up with.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice lowered to a loud whisper to be able to at least make him hear it over the sound of the speaker system.

Something had gone wrong with the productions of Akatsuki University, and so the release date was only now when the actual shooting had been already almost a year ago. All of us took off on our own time, and I spent that year with Ino in Tokyo, both of us taking an extraordinarily long vacation from our works. So seeing Sasuke now… it felt a little weird, but it was a nice surprise nonetheless. I haven't heard from him since our last goodbye after shoots of the last scene. A few instances during my vacation the news reached me that his parents had been killed, but I didn't bother checking it out too much since my best friend forced me away from worrying too much.

He looked fine now, and I remember flicking past the news channels pertaining to the Uchiha massacre. Sasuke didn't look like he cared, but he looked like that most of the time and at any rate, it was lurking underneath his mask.

Instead of answering my question, he simply took my hand and pulled me along back a few rows, urging me to take a seat before he plopped down on one beside me. I could smell his cologne, and wonder why his fan girls weren't able to use it to sniff him out and track him down. Anyway, I couldn't care less, because he smells so good that I merely stare at him as his eyes were glued to the screen in front of us.

"Never knew that you sneaked into movie houses as well," he said after a while, and looked over to where I was. His white hooded sweater seemed to be illuminating the light from the film. "Just happened to see you standing there so I wanted to say hi."

"Is my disguise really that defective?" I said, watching the smirk spread across his lips. I've kissed him so many times before that I don't bother counting anymore, and I have to be honest, I just want to kiss him right now.

"Not really. I've been with you for a long time now, it's easy to pick you out," he replied, glancing for a moment at the developing catfight onscreen before returning his eyes to me.

He was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And he was only my work partner, because for all his perfection, I know that I couldn't possibly have him. There were so much more important things to Sasuke than what I could imagine, because I know that his brother was still on the lose for murdering their parents, and that he was still sifting through the remains of his life after that incident half a year ago, so most likely I wouldn't be occupying a lot of space in that raven-locked head of his.

Besides…

"How's Karin?" I ask softly, hoping that I wasn't intruding that much. Every now and then, during shootings, I would see his model wife at the sidelines, watching. Or maybe a shadow of her fiery red hair in his trailer as she waited for him to return. She was extremely pretty, wore glasses that made her stand out even more, and hell, I know I wouldn't stand a chance against someone like her.

But now, when the question went tumbling out of my mouth, Sasuke's face hardened as if I said something wrong. Did I?

"Fine," he replied dully.

We're friends. It's hard not to be after all that time we've spent together during the duration of five movies, most of (alright, all of them) which we're the two destined mushy, mushy, tooth-aching, nauseatingly fluffy lovers. There were even a couple of bed scenes, which afterwards was a bit awkward, but we both got over it, and we're simply friends. And he doesn't just clam up when it came to Karin before. He would actually look happy and go on and on about her, and I'd have that familiar twang in my heart that tells me I like him even when I shouldn't.

I just kept quiet, watching how Sasuke's face seems to close off on me. Alongside my (dumb) blond manager, Naruto, who happens to be his best friend so I end up spending even more of my time with the guys, and Ino, that (amazing) bitch who ran away from me and became a supermodel before running back and claiming friendship, these three people are probably the closest friends I have. They're practically family, or even more.

Sasuke not saying anything means that there's something wrong, obviously. Sasuke outright ignoring me was completely normal most of the time, but Sasuke giving me the cold shoulder means something horrible is up.

"Did you… do something?" I asked timidly, barely registering the sounds from the speakers. The words and the background noise weren't making any more sense to me, and my full attention was on my friend. Sort of.

He just shakes his head, keeping his eyes fixed in front of him. _Dude, you look like you screwed something up. _That_ obvious._

However, it didn't strike me that it might not even be him who did something, and thus my disloyal mouth continued blabbing.

"You did something."

Sasuke took a deep sigh, and then gave me a weary look.

"Nothing. We're fine," he says. In the dimness of our surroundings, I don't know if he looks sad or simply annoyed when he looks to the side, but there's a little progress. Naruto is so much better at getting something out of this guy than I will ever be.

I stay quiet and stare at him, and then when silence fills the theatre, probably a part where the cast was at a funeral, he looks back at me with that _look_. The one he gives me during the shoots, god I remember so well. The one when we're about to kiss. The one with those intense, smouldering eyes that were so clear even in the half-light. The one that made our onscreen chemistry so famous for feeling so right and so real. I can feel the fine hairs on my arms and at the back of my neck stand up, and I start wondering if I made a mistake of coming to the theatre today.

Now, you see, even though I like him, I know that he's married, and I don't want to be seen or even considered as a home wrecker, and I'm sure there's that ring on Sasuke's finger… My green eyes flit to his hand. _Oh my god…_

He leans in closer, and that's pretty much where I'm convinced that something went horribly wrong with his relationship with Karin.

"What are you doing?" I hiss, and he stops. The silver-and-gold ring glints as it catches the light from the screen.

The string of movies we made together weren't one after the other, and there were long hiatuses in between. That's why I had known Sasuke for more or less a decade now, and probably loved (I shouldn't use such a strong word) him for a good part of it, mostly toward the end. And I also witnessed how he supposedly fell in love with Karin and also was there when they had such a beautiful kid. I couldn't destroy all that they had built.

"What do you think I'm doing?" he replied, voice low.

So far no one had noticed our presence in the theatre, the audience still caught up in the story in front of them. I could feel my heart thudding in my throat. This was really wrong.

"You're married," I said flat out.

Sasuke simply smirked, his eyes following mine to the ring on this finger.

"You mean I'm still wearing this weak excuse for a marriage?" he replied holding up his hand, pulling the ornament off.

Never had I seen him act this way. He was supposed to be _doting_ on Karin, because I would always catch him telling her he loved her. Sometimes I would accidentally walk in on them when they were making out in some hallway, or other stupid coincidences like that. I'd be jealous, I'd envy her, because she had the right to do it, and yes, I do savour the moments where Sasuke and I are made to kiss onscreen, but I would never try to break them up. So why was he doing _this_?

"What's wrong with you?" I ask again, watching as he toyed with the little circle he would always be wearing when the cameras weren't rolling. "If something's happened between you and Karin, you need to talk it out. Don't–"

"Talk?" he interjected hollowly that I stopped. "You don't know how much I've tried that."

He looked tired, and cold, like when I first met him. He had been completely disinterested, like I was some annoying chick who was flinging herself at him. Only after a few months did he warm up and eventually learn to trust me. Now, it was like we were back to square one again, where he was shutting me out. Well… no, not exactly that. It was more like albeit more responsive, he was colder.

"What exactly happened?" I finally said. "I know I'm no Naruto, but you can talk to me."

Sasuke was quiet for a while, before he sighed deeply, rubbing his face with his hands. His hood dipped even lower in front of his face before he pushed it back completely behind him, not minding whether anyone would notice his trademark hair or not.

"She lied to me," he answered simply, and I just stared.

_What the hell do you mean by _lied_? Geez, you're so cryptic._

Probably reading the confusion in my face, he (at last) bothered to explain. To which I wished that I didn't ask the question in the first place.

"Kimimaro isn't mine."

I was stunned. More silence for only a few seconds, and all around us the crowd suddenly burst into a cheer at something that happened onscreen. It was completely out of place for them to do so, and I didn't know if I should apologize or tell him that I didn't believe him, just that I knew I should at least say something to break the awkwardness. Kimimaro was his and Karin's kid. Or… well, apparently not. I had suspicions before when I found out the boy was white-haired and saw him for myself, but at that time I had thought otherwise, that maybe his genes had been recessive.

"I… I guess I'm sorry," I finally managed to get out after a while. I really was, because I had been thinking that he might just be overreacting over a little fight, but now that I know the truth, I felt like I had been too harsh for judging him. I should have known better than to pry.

"I'm fine, it's not your fault," he replied, giving me a sad smile. I felt terrible. And even more rotten because I wanted to ask who the biological father was.

"You've been a good dad, I've seen you with him," I said instead, watching his reaction. With the applause rippling throughout the audience it was hard to really concentrate on what was on hand.

Away from these onlookers who were only here for a good time, they don't know that the one they were watching is actually in an emotional rut right now. It seemed that the paparazzi haven't deracinated this piece of information about Sasuke yet, and I hoped that they never will. If this leaked out into the news, it wouldn't help him one bit.

"Funny thing is," he started, playing with the ring that signified his marital status, "it was never real."

"Don't say that," I said. Right now I'm wishing that my manager was with me. "You've been with her six years."

He gave a bitter laugh, successfully catching the attention of the couple in front of us, the guy immediately turning around and giving us an irate glare, not really having that much impact because it was actually hard to see.

"Will you keep it down?" he said in a stage whisper. "You aren't the only ones here."

I could see a smirk spread across Sasuke's lips, and in the ill light he wasn't really all that recognizable if you didn't know who he really was. My cap seemed to have been enough as well to keep my anonymity, and we both just shared a knowing look between us when the man turned his attention back to the screen. His girlfriend's gaze lingered on my companion, however, but in the end she must have decided that he wasn't really who she thought he was.

Keeping silent, the Uchiha beside me pulled up his hood once more and his smirk gave way to a full-blown grin that I knew meant something else.

"This movie sucks!" Sasuke suddenly yelled, causing rather one too many heads to swivel round and glare at him. Or to be precise, one too many heads turned to glare in our general direction. The couple in front of us rounded on us once more, death glares galore.

Amid the fierce glowering of the audience, I couldn't help but feel Sasuke's grinning rub off on me, and I had to bite on my lower lip to keep from laughing out loud. Some girl from the other side of the room shot back a response to my friend's jibe at our movie.

"Shut up you hater!"

We both let the effects of the comment die down, the couple in front of us turning away angrily, and even though I know it was mean of Sasuke to be doing this, I wouldn't stop him. Maybe this was some kind of release from all his pent-up emotions, and that it wouldn't hurt to cause our audience some discomfort if it would help him cope with his real life situation.

His glittering black eyes met mine, and I instantly covered my ears.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS MOVIE? THE ACTORS CAN'T ACT!"

The response was almost instantaneous. There was sniggering, but the rest didn't seem to take it lightly.

"HEY DUMBASS, SHUT UP!"

"DUDE YOU'RE STONED! SMOKE YOUR WEED SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

I couldn't cover up the laughter no matter how hard I tried, and I could feel Sasuke's forehead resting on my shoulder, see him shaking hard as he tried to shut himself up as well. We were acting like a couple of teenagers with the intent of annoying the hell out of everyone. The couple in front of us got up with a loud "Tsk!" to move to available seats farther away from us. We didn't know where they went and we didn't care.

The outrage of the audience was extremely funny, and the group of girls a few rows behind us started making snide comments about the "guy who needs to get a life". Sasuke could only grin at me, shaking his head at the ignorance of the group. They started using lines from the movie, saying "So _annoying_," or going "Troublesome."

"God, they don't have originality. If only they knew," Sasuke whispered, his breath hot in my ear. I merely nodded, wondering how far he would go on with this act.

"Ahem, SASU-GAY'S AN UGLY BITCH!" he shouted as loud as he could that my ears rang. Then, "LOL!"

He actually said the word. He said "lol". The popcorn tirade probably started after that. People started hurling their snacks in our direction, and we were forced to get up and run back to the entrances. That, as we realized too late, gave away who the shouting idiot was.

"Sasuke-kun isn't gay you fucking lowlifes!"

"There he is!"

"Get them!"

"Annoying good-for-nothings! Go away!"

"Yeah, leave us alone!"

We didn't mind being pelted by the multiple flavors of popcorn they could offer, or the candy. Sasuke just grabbed my hand and we ran laughing and mocking the clueless spectators, right through the crowded theatre of people who wanted nothing else but to get rid of the irritating guy. My hat was shorn off by a flying soda can, mercifully empty, and I didn't bother to stop and look for it.

The speaker-loud conversations from the movie dissolved into girly giggling that seemed to join in our nutty escapade, until we both ended up in the dark entrance, both panting and out of breath with our stomachs hurting from hysterics.

"That was bad," I said, pulling out a handkerchief and dragging it across the sweat on my brow, still half-laughing from the scene.

"I know, heh."

Sasuke was doubled over, trying to get rid of the last chuckles in his system, before straightening up and ruggedly running a hand through his dark hair. The only lights around were the guiders suspended low on the wall. I could see his shoes and where his shorts ended below his knee, including a white scar that ran up the front of his calf from an accident a few years back.

"It's too hot here," I said without thinking. The experience had our adrenaline coursing heavily through our veins, and before I knew it, I was backed into the wall, Sasuke's lips against mine.

It was too dark for me to see anything, but I could feel his hand gripping the back of my head, the other around my waist, pressing me closer to him. At first it didn't register to me what to do, his lips coaxing my own, sensually tugging, lightly nipping at mine. I couldn't respond, not for a moment at least, because usually the script would dictate what we had to do. Make this noise, go there, do that. Every little move was mapped out beforehand, and now he was kissing me of his own accord, I didn't know what I should do.

Logic immediately took over me, and I whispered against his lips, "Stop."

Sasuke slowly pulled away to stare at me in the darkness, and even though I couldn't really see, I turned away, looking blankly at the little line of lights on the other wall. Sure, my heart was beating hard because hell, he _kissed_ me. Not because some words in a paper told him to do so, but because he wanted to. And I felt guilty.

"Why?" he asked me, his breath fanning across my face and his tone deep that it made the fine hairs on my arms stand. This is bad. No, seriously, this is really bad.

"Sasuke, you're too confused right now," I said, feeling him toying with my hair, his fingers trailing down my neck. His other hand around my back wasn't letting me go. "You're going to regret this once it's over."

I felt him stop and heard his exasperated sigh.

"Why don't we worry," he started, lightly pressing his lips on my forehead, then down to the tip of my nose, "about the complications when it does arise?"

He kissed me again on the lips, watching, waiting for my reaction, and I swear, it was taking me every ounce of willpower that I had just not to kiss him back.

"I… I'm not sure about this," I said.

Sasuke let go of me for a few moments to run a hand through his hair and I could see a pained smile on his perfect lips.

"Just pretend there's a camera shooting us somewhere," he whispered, leaning down yet again, "If it makes it easier for you, please…"

_Oh shit… nononononono… _He was hurting. And he was asking me to help him, and it was completely immoral because he wasn't completely free of Karin just yet, and…

"Not exactly a fairytale romance?" I asked softly. _NO! I shouldn't do this… God, I'm going to burn in hell, aren't I?_

I could hear him chuckle again.

"No," replied Sasuke. "Just you and me, after annoying our audience."

It started feeling familiar. And right. We used to talk about our scenes before they called our action, discussing what we could do to improve it, or just to make fun of the script, or practicing…

"And what happens after this?"

He was leaving a trail of light kisses down my jaw and I closed my eyes, letting my hands fist in the thick material of his sweater, half-wishing that someone walk in on us and half-hoping that no one did.

"We shut up and just make out."

I can feel his smile on my skin, and the thrum of his voice when he talked.

"Then we fight," I added to keep him from getting too far, pulling him up and kissing him on the mouth, my hands tangling in his raven hair, the spikes feeling like down to the touch.

"No we don't," he replied, kissing me back. "We talk about complications. I don't want to get slapped again."

He makes me laugh lightly with his comment, then runs the tip of his tongue across the roof of my mouth and causing me to repress the noises at the back of my throat. He had always been good at this.

"And then… what?"

"I ask you out," he tells me through the kiss, holding me against him.

I try to hold on to what was rational, to keep asking him questions to avoid getting to swept up in the moment, in the way his lips moved, or his fingers tracing little circles on my lower back.

"Then…?"

He didn't answer, deepening the kiss, robbing me of my breath in the darkness of the hallway with tongue and teeth and everything he had. My mind was reeling and I could barely comprehend the fact that we were at the entrance to a theater, and that any time now people could start shuffling out or come barging in.

"Then?" I try to get in when we paused to take a breath, insisting to keep us from getting too carried away.

Sasuke played deaf, and I could feel the smirk he had on when he kept up his act before he barely let me take at least a lungful of air. Pushing him away only resulted in my knees buckling underneath me that I had to hold on to him tighter, closer, him pulling me away from the wall and keeping my body flush against his. I was fast losing control and the drop over the edge was looming closer as I slid towards it.

"Sasu–"

"Shh…"

"But–"

"I said we'd shut up, right?" he said, voice husky.

I stare into his deep, dark eyes, pleading with me to just give him a chance as if I was that last hope of him keeping sane. He was going through a lot of unfamiliar territory that he was abruptly forced into, and I could only imagine his pain. How he would expect his mom's concerned calls that would never come anymore, or his father's seemingly random visits. How he would never see Itachi in the same light again after what happened. How he would never be able to find himself in Kimimaro, who he thought was his, and how he must be feeling over Karin. I was probably the only person he could familiarize with as of now, and it would be selfish of me to deny him that small comfort.

"Yeah," I reply after a moment, then stood on tiptoe (cliché, seriously) and kissed him.

Well really, yeah, I know that what we're doing is wrong. And that I might burn in hell after this. But if it means that I'm offering him comfort, then I would gladly oblige. We'd talk about it later, maybe over a cup of steaming coffee or during the next shooting, or maybe even during the trials for his divorce. And even if someone walked in right now, be it paparazzi or a movie-going fan, I wouldn't care. Sasuke needs me, right? For me, and for now, that's all that matters.

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**AN: **Is it only me, or does Sakura also remind you of Tifa?


End file.
